luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7206 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French
| Message 433 of 451 02 July 2015 at 1:51am | IP Logged |
Two thumbs up for Monsieur le PM!
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rtickner Diglot Groupie AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 3519 days ago 61 posts - 95 votes Speaks: English*, GermanB2 Studies: French, Spanish
| Message 434 of 451 02 July 2015 at 2:04am | IP Logged |
Excellent determination Peter, have you set aside a date for the B2 exam?
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PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5477 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1
| Message 435 of 451 02 July 2015 at 3:49pm | IP Logged |
Thanks Teango, Mohave, luke and rtickner:)
@rtickner
I'm looking at sitting the exam in either November this year or March next year when the Alliance Française
states the next two exam sessions will take place in Melbourne. I'm really not sure which of the two I'll go for
at this stage and whether I'll be dissatisfied with both in the end and want to wait even longer (being a
perfectionist). However since my ultimate aim is C-level then I ought to press on and get down to the
business end of things. Ironically, despite my big hours, my progress through the courses is slow, so I
wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if I am back on the extensive reading path very soon. I've learned now to
just go with what I feel, and expect my plan to change from one week to the next. The key is to just keep
learning day in day out.
How are your language learning endeavours coming along?
PM
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Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5010 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian
| Message 436 of 451 02 July 2015 at 9:12pm | IP Logged |
Don't worry that much about going slowly through the courses (I'll need to read back on your log to remember which courses are you going through right now). Speed is not everything, especially at the advanced levels where every noticeable piece of progress comes soooo slooowly. Extensive reading is a great activity towards the higher levels, no need to worry about that, even though it is useful to work on other things as well. Extensive listening is awesome as well, that's basically what got me to the C levels.
If I may recommend, go for the C1 exam so that you can choose among sciences and lettres. Knowing you won't get something from your weaker side takes a bit of the pressure away as the range of topics gets really wide once you leave the "safety" of the A1-B1 levels. And as you want to progress to the C levels anyways, that is a question: Whether tis better to try the B2 for more experience or to save the money and "risk" C1 right away. (If noone has recognized it, I was trying to be funny by paraphrasing Shakespeare. Nevermind.)
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rtickner Diglot Groupie AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 3519 days ago 61 posts - 95 votes Speaks: English*, GermanB2 Studies: French, Spanish
| Message 437 of 451 03 July 2015 at 2:53am | IP Logged |
PeterMollenburg wrote:
...either November this year or March next year... |
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Great! Looking forward to the victory speech around that time then. Doing a sample exam
at each level would probably be a good indicator of which level exam you should sit.
Cavesa wrote:
Whether tis better to try the B2 for more experience or to save the money
and "risk" C1 right away. |
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Or to take arms against the C1 troubles,
And, by opposing, end them? To study, to sleep—
No more.
Edited by rtickner on 03 July 2015 at 3:25am
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PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5477 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1
| Message 438 of 451 03 July 2015 at 2:00pm | IP Logged |
hmmmm I think I'll stick to B2. I really appreciate the encouragement and Cavesa your relaxing words as
well- you're right, who cares if I go a little slow through the courses.
I know i'm not a C1 and even if i could somehow scrape through, I would prefer to do this properly. It's not the
certificate alone that I'm after, but the accomplishment and actual level of language I know I am capable of
(once genuinely attaining it) with a certificate to verify that level. This is why exam 'cheats', 'fast tracks' or
'tricks' (whatever you want to call them) haven't overly interested me. I did no preparation for the B1 aside
from a brief read of the exam process. Being tested without preparation to me is a real indicator of all-round
level. Mind you that was only B1 and i do own prepatory courses for B2 and up but I guess I'm just not out to
'learn French in 3 months' with every trick in the book up my sleeve. I want the real deal, the real result,
nothing more, nothing less. For that, I'm likely to sit the B2 in March.
Message of the day:
The United Nations is a private organisation with private interests
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PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5477 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1
| Message 439 of 451 04 July 2015 at 2:50am | IP Logged |
Just (hesitantly) speaking out loud...
Of my 3 planned hours of language 'desk study' a day... -self interjecion: yes I seem to have given up on
reading financial info rotating with my language study as i can't seem to stop (don't want to) learning as
much French as I am! and will endeavour to tackle the financial 'thing' outside of languae study... okay what i
was saying was before Peter Mollenburg so rudely interrupted myself was... I'm going to attempt to do
an hour of reading a day. I will do 2 hours of courses and then 3rd hour if I reach it (most days I do) I will read.
It's a loose plan and I know I'm all too likely to change it an hour from now... we'll see. At least this way
courses (my obvious obsession) take precedence and don't get impacted upon too much.... catch you in 5.65
minutes for my next complete change to my study régime.
Other things...
* I'm going to at least one meetup tomorrow. I'm on the list for a 2nd but not sure i'll be attending that one yet.
* Although recently my listening comprehension (of the news) seemed to have blasted through the
stratosphere, lately I've not felt as confident, but we all know 2 steps forward, 1.5 back can be all part of the
process.
* I'm up to lesson 106 (passive wave) of NFWE and have bene refocusing on this as my principal course that
I pick up first each day. I'm sure I'll move very quickly thorugh the active wave as my passive waves aren't as
passive as they're supposed to be, but that's just me.
* I've gone back to Fluenz, now commencing level 4 (up to lesson 4), as I enjoy it, so why not.
* TY Get Started in French, ironically is very slow going as it contains lot of fiddly words that require clarifying
(ok it's more that I go off and investigate them with my perfectionism- perhaps the course is not so well set
out if I'm doing this a lot whereas with other courses good clarification is provided) and it's not really holding
my interest greatly. When I get back to it some time I will NOT be going back to the start. This is a good habit
i've gotten into when stopping courses now, I always pick up where I left off or perhaps only one lesson
behind where I was at the absolute max. It works, I have SRS now, no need to redo things over and over to
death (of course I do review some things, particularly listening to tougher audio courses more than once).
* on tougher audio courses, i'm still actively moving through Rocket French Platinum (the 3rd of the 3 levels)
which I find rather tough, but with about 5 to 10 listens I master a lesson and move on. Often I have to sit
down and use one of my 'desk hours' and read over the conversations adding cards to SRS etc so that when
I drive the car I begin to master the content (shadowing if you will). I'm also reviewing the 2nd level of Rocket
French. Once again if you want something tougher than Pimsleur/MT and so on, Rocket French is really very
good indeed (the 1st level not so much)
edited for typo
Edited by PeterMollenburg on 04 July 2015 at 2:52am
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PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5477 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1
| Message 440 of 451 04 July 2015 at 3:12pm | IP Logged |
En regardant le début du Tour de France en ce moment-là, j'ai envie encore de parler
le hollandais et pour cette raison de retourner à l'étudier. Mais en regardant la
présentation des équipes du Tour avant le commencement de la course même, j'ai écouté
Nairo Quintana parler espagnol. Je l'ai compris sans problème, mais bien-sûr il n'a
pas dit de mots difficiles en s'exprimant aux spéctateurs hollandais. Comme d'habitude
je crois qu'il sera une choix entre le néerlandais et l'espagnol quand je prendrai la
décision finalement d'étudier une deuxième langue étrangère. Mais en ce moment, aussi
comme d'habitude, c'est seulement une langue. Le français, le français et... le
français. Néanmoins le hollandais et l'espagnol me manquent....
Reconnaissez-vous cette chanson américaine en anglais des années quatre-vingts que
quelqu'un a traduit en français ? :
Elle ne sort que la nuit
Elle est du style mince et affamé
Il n'y a rien de neuf, je l'ai déjà vu ici avant
Regardant et attendant
Ooh, elle s'assoit avec toi
mais ses yeux sont rivés sur la porte
(réponse en bas)
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Taken from http://lyricstranslate.com/fr/maneater-mangeuse-dhommes.html
#ixzz3evaEZeKX
Edited by PeterMollenburg on 04 July 2015 at 3:27pm
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